Boulder County's citizen-led advisory committee on subdivision paving agreed Wednesday to scrap the idea of chip-sealing at-risk roads for the time being, and instead focus on rehabilitating the neediest, most heavily trafficked stretches at the lowest possible cost.

The recommendation ran contrary to one it made in March, asking that as many of the roughly 30 miles of deteriorating roads in unincorporated parts of the county be chip-sealed — a surface treatment combining asphalt with fine aggregate and commonly used in rural areas.

More than anything, the change of heart was inspired by an unfavorable case study in supply and demand: The committee didn't find many producers or contractors for the chip-sealing plan, and the bid it did get wound up at about $80,000 per mile, more than double the committee's original estimate.

"Now that the chip-seal bid came in so high," the advisory committee's chairman, Bob Schuetz, said, "we feel it's more efficient to retool the entire project and reject that bid."

Following Wednesday's meeting, the advisory committee will recommend to the county transportation staff and board of commissioners using 80 percent of the $4.6 million budget on unincorporated county roads that are both relatively high-use and at risk of falling apart and becoming even more expensive to repair.

Under this plan, the other 20 percent would go to repairing those roads that are already in terrible shape, such as portions of Linden Drive in the Pine Brook Hills subdivision or Plateau Road in the Boulder Hills subdivision.

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"We can't ignore the worst roads and let them deteriorate and get unsafe, so we're going to do this combination of the worst roads and the roads that are in fair to poor quality, which we don't have to do a full reconstruction on."

More than likely, Transportation Director George Gerstle said, no more than about 10 of the 30 miles of eligible road will be repaired this year. The roads that do get repaired wouldn't be touched for at least six weeks, however, with a tentative completion date set sometime in the fall.

The roads would now be paved using asphalt overlay, which is actually more expensive on average than chip-sealing. There are many more contractors, though, so the thinking is that competition will drive the price lower than the chip-seal bid.

The committee will give advice at its next meeting, planned for June 4, on which specific roads to focus on.

"I think some people will be disappointed that their road isn't higher on the list," Gerstle said, "but I think, overall, people will be happy to see something happening."

Schuetz agreed, saying that the primary concern he's hearing from residents is that their roads may remain untouched for the foreseeable future.

"I think the biggest public comment right now is, 'When is this work going to get done?'" he said.

Meanwhile, the Board of County Commissioners, which OK'd the $4.6 million budget earlier this month, continues to battle a lawsuit brought forth by a group of property owners in unincorporated parts of the county. The group, called Fairness in Road Maintenance, alleges that the county's November creation of the Local Improvement District — to assess property owners over 15 years for road repairs — was illegal.

That suit is in the hands of a Weld County judge, and it will likely be at least several weeks before the case moves forward. If the county loses, it would be required to refund the LID payments that subdivision property owners have filed so far.

The inaction to date on the broken subdivision roads despite LID payments has driven many unincorporated residents to great frustration, Gerstle said.

"People are upset when they learn that they were neither paying for nor getting something they thought they were paying for over time," he said. "We're pretty confident that everything we did was absolutely consistent with the requirements, but until the courts decide there is some risk that's out there."

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